1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of reconstructing the architecture of sedimentary layers of a petroleum reservoir resulting from the passage of one or more sedimentary currents such as turbidity currents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The petroleum industry, and more precisely exploration and development of petroleum reservoirs, requires the best possible knowledge of the underground geology to efficiently provide an evaluation of the reserves, modelling of the production or management of the development. In fact, determining the location of a production well or of an injection well, the parameters necessary for optimum hydrocarbon recovery, such as the injection pressure, the composition of the drilling mud, the completion characteristics, . . . , involves good knowledge of the reservoir. To know the reservoir means to know the subsoil characteristics at any point of space. This involves knowledge of the sedimentary architecture of this subsoil, that is definition of the geometry and of the nature of the geologic layers that make up this subsoil. FIG. 1 illustrates the sedimentary architecture of a reservoir example. It shows the diagrammatic geologic section of an outcrop of turbiditic deposits comprising eight lithologies (L1to L8), and it illustrates the complexity of the sedimentary architectures to be simulated. Various intersecting surfaces due to the succession of filling and erosion processes can in particular be observed. This architecture cannot be observed, it results from the modelling of the various sedimentary events (marine or air sedimentary currents, desiccation, . . . ) that have affected the region studied. The geologic architecture thus defines various geological objects to which petrophysical properties can be assigned to improve the reservoir characterization and therefore the various evaluations.
The petroleum industry has been combining for a long time technical measurements and modellings performed in the laboratory and/or by softwares.
Petroleum reservoir modelling therefore is a technical stage that is essential to any reservoir exploration or development process. The goal thereof is to provide a description of the reservoir via its sedimentary architecture and/or its petrophysical properties.